Currently, mobile applications that execute on mobile devices operate in one of a number of different modes. In a first off-line mode, the mobile applications operate as stand-alone applications on a mobile device, without any connection to a network. In a second online mode, mobile applications may operate with connections to one or more services, for example, offered by an enterprise backend, via a network (e.g., the Internet or an intranet). Examples of mobile applications that are able to operate in such online mode include mobile web browser applications that establish connectivity to a web application server, for example, forming part of an enterprise backend. In a third hybrid online/off-line mode, mobile applications may perform certain operations locally, and then later synchronize with another system, once a connection is established. For example, a mobile e-mail application may enable a user to author e-mails, which are then communicated to a backend e-mail server when the mobile device establishes a connection to such an e-mail server.
Mobile business users often use the online or hybrid modes of usage to access services offered by corporate enterprise backends. Such access may be viewed as establishing a business-to-employee (B2E) domain, in which corporate users are, via mobile devices, provided access to functionality offered by an enterprise backend.
Business applications today typically operate in a business-to-employee (B2E) or business-to-business (B2B) context. The advent of mobile technology has offered new possibilities to extend the business-to-employee (B2E) domain by offering mobile employees access to corporate resources. For example, such mobile technologies enable employees to participate in an enterprise's business processes by mobile applications that span a mobile user's device and the enterprise domain. Mobile technologies that may contribute to the extension of the business-to-employee (B2E) domain include (1) wireless devices, in the form of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), notebook computers and smart phones for example, and (2) wireless communication technologies, such as Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS's), a 3G mobile technology that delivers broadband access via mobile telephone networks.
While progress has been made in extending the business-to-employee (B2E) domain, significant technical challenges remain with respect to extending the capabilities of mobile devices beyond this domain.